The Thief and the Maid
by Nith Tawe
Summary: A Khajiit thief and a Nord maid both have the gift for thievery. These are the story's of their mischievous adventures.
1. Rorikstead

**A Khajiit thief meets a Nord maid, both of them have a gift for Pickpocketing, these are the tales of their mischief. This is my first fanfiction so I hope you enjoy!**

Zha'ri sighed as she approached the little town. It was small with only a few shops, but it was enough. She grinned. People were bustling about, going on with their lives.

She walked down the path casually watching the guards. Finally when they were all looking away she bumped into a snooty looking high elf, snatching his coin purse. He glared at her.

"Watch where you going, cat." he snarled, storming away. She smiled at his back, it was to easy.

Zha'ri had fun emptying the pockets of her unsuspecting victims. The satisfying weight of their gold hanging in her pouch. She enjoyed the thrill, it was her life. She even gathered the courage to steal a ring off a guard's finger. Little towns were too easy, Zha'ri wanted to try big cities but the guards never let her in. She kicked a rock in frustration. Her spine tingled, she spun around but no one was behind her. Yet she had the strange feeling of being watched. She shrugged. It's not like she was staying very long.

Her tail flicked from side to side. She was getting hungry. Taking a final coin purse from some random nord woman, Zha'ri decided she would stay the night at the local inn.

It was brightly light with a big fire pit in the center. Her mouth watered as the smell of chicken hit her nose. She bought a small dinner from a man behind a counter at the back of the room. Her dinner consisted of salmon, mammoth cheese, and a sweet roll. She sat at one of the tables as far away from the other customers as possible. They we all Nords men getting drunk of the newest ales and wines. The sheer smell of them made her eyes water.

After eating Zha'ri walked up to the man behind the counter once again. The man standing behind it was relatively tall, balding, with dull grey eyes.

"Welcome to Frostfruit inn." He said in a somewhat bored voice.

"Zha'ri would like to rent a room." she smiled.

"That will be ten septims," he droned "and keep your paws to yourself." he added looking at her full coin purse.

"Where is this one's room?" she asked ignoring his last sentence. It was already too late for that.

"Jytia will show you." he gestured to a short girl sweeping in the corner. She pushed her hair out of her face and hurried over. The innkeep nodded at her and the girl pulled Zha'ri to a door on the right.

It was a small room with a cot in the corner, a scratched mirror on the right wall, and a chest in the opposite corner. Placing her bag on the cot, Zha'ri turned to close the door only to find olnly the girl had not moved. She eyes stared unwavering into the khajiit's.

"What is it? Cat's got your tongue?" Zha'ri asked, smiling. The girl giggled.

"Um, i was wondering if i could ask you a question?" she looked down at her feet nervously.

"Go on."

"So you're an explorer right?"

"Of a sort."

"What's it like to be free like that? No rules. No cares. It must be wonderful."

"Zha'ri would not give it up for anything." she replied earnestly.

"Ever since i was a little girl i've wanted to be an adventurer like you. Not some stupid maid." Jytia said hopefully.

"Zha'ri travels alone."

"Would you rather travel with me? Or would you rather be stuck in prison for a few years for theft." Lytia asked, eyebrows raised.

"Zha'ri has done nothing wrong." she said calmly.

"Oh ya?" Jytia challenged. "Than whats this?' in her hand was the amethyst ring Zha'ri had stolen off of the sleeping guard.

"Damn." she murmured. Then an idea struck her. A very bad idea. "Seems you got the gift. Zha'ri could use talent like that…" she wondered aloud.

"Please let me go with you!" the girl pleaded "I need to get out of this wretched town!"

"Fine, we leave at dawn" Zha'ri murmured.

"Thank you!" the girl cried as she ran from the room. Zha'ri closed the door behind her.

Sighing Zha'ri clambered into bed. Catching sight of herself in the dirty mirror. Her black fur blended with the shadows, her white hair dreadlocked down her back, the candle light causing her nose ring to shine along with the moonstone on her forehead. And finally her moon like eyes staring back at her.

Looking up at the ceiling Zha'ri closed her eyes, dreading the approaching dawn.


	2. Whiterun

Zha'ri sighed as she watched Jytia. The girl was bouncing up and down in excitement. The girls blonde hair was up in a bun, although there were already strands falling out. Her bright blue eyes were wide with anticipation. She wore a plain brown dress, leather boots and a wool scarf. Zha'ri however was wearing simple fur armour she picked up from a bandit not long ago.

"So where are we headed first?" Jytia asked excitedly.

"The plan is to sneak into whiterun, i'm meeting up with my sister." Zha'ri answered simply, readjusting her satchel.

"Sneak in? Can't we just go through the front gates?"

"Khajiits are not allowed into the main cities."

"Oh, I understand."Jytia replied a little pink in the cheeks. Zha'ri smiled and started her way down the dirt road.

They arrived at whiterun two days later. Under the cover of night they stealthily avoided the torchlight of patrolling guards and made their way to the western side of the wall.

"Do you have a plan?" Jytia huffed, brushing dirt from her dress. Zha'ri shushed her. They approached a small boulder.

"Sor'ma?" Zha'ri whispered.

"Who's Sor'ma? Asked but to no answer. A figure emerged from the shadows.

"Zha'ri! I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up." said the figure.

"This one," Zha'ri gestured to Jytia who blushed in embarrassment. "Slowed down the trip a bit."

Sor'ma stepped out of the shadows. She was short and slender like her sister, with almost the opposite fur coloring. Where Zha'ri was dark Sor'ma was light, vis versa. Although they had the same moonlike eyes and ornament on their forehead. She was wearing dark leather armor, causing her to blend into the shadows.

"So Sor'ma, what's the plan?" Zha'ri and Jytia walked over to Sor'ma, and sat at her makeshift camp. The plan was basically to sneak into the Grey-Manes house, and steal anything they could possibly sell later on. The problem was they didn't have enough lockpicks, but that's where jytia came in. The next day she would walk into the city and get as many lockpicks as she get her hands on.

"Why do I have to do it all alone!" Jytia whined.

"Because we are khajiits." Sor'ma yawned. Zha'ri grabbed an apple out of her pack and started eating contentedly. It was about 8am according to the sun, time for Jytia to prove her worth. Soon enough Jytia sighed and marched off to the front gates.

"So what's the plan." Zha'ri whispered.

"After this one you start making your way to Windhelm, I will get special supplies from the thieves guild. The Dark Brotherhood's got your back?"

"Well I don't think they give this mark to just anyone." Zha'ri lifted a cloth band around her arm to reveal a blood red hand print dyed into her fur.

"Good, then after windhelm we go to the mages college, then finally solitude. Well be set for life!" Sor'ma giggled. This had been their dream for many years now, and it was finally happening.

It was dark when Jytia came back. She carried a small bag over her shoulder, she looked triumphantly at them. Tossing the bag at their feet the contents spilled out into the open. Zha'ri gasped in delight. Hundreds of lock picks littered the ground, along with one black iron key.

"I thought it would be nice if i also grabbed their key, so we wouldn't waste any lockpicks."

"I officially welcome you to the team." Sor'ma laughed.

"Sorry it took so long. Right before I left a guard walked up to me and gave me this." Jytia held out a piece of paper which Zha'ri grabbed. "So i started talking to him, i got this," she dropped a gauntlet. "This" she dropped a coin sack. "This" an amulet of talos was thrown carelessly onto the ground. "And finally this" she threw an iron sword at their feet.

"I knew you were good, but not this good." Zha'ri laughed. Jytia smiled back and brushed back her hair. Zha'ri opened the paper and smiled. It was a bounty note, reading:

 _Wanted for murder, assassination, setting a chicken on fire, and theft of every kind. Description: Female, Khajiit. Black fur. If found take to a hold guard. Reward: 1000 septims._

Zha'ri smiled, it was small but it was still something. She folded it and put it in a side pocket of her bag.

They were finally ready around midnight. Zha'ri hoped the occupants of the house were sound asleep, or they would be in serious trouble. Boosting each other over the wall the they landed on a bale of hay in the grey manes cow pen. The cow mooed, but quickly lost interest.

"Here we go." Jytia breathed. She inserted the key into the lock and turned, the door opened with a faint click. The house was big, two story tall and had expensive wooden carvings above the door, if they could afford that Jytia wondered what treasures she could find in the house.

Zha'ri listened quietly and heard snoring coming upstairs. Looking around, she grabbed food off the table that would last. It was a long journey to windhelm. She moved what looked like a study. There was a small safe under the desk. It took Zha'ri 20 lockpicks to open but it was worth it.

"Thank you Rajhin!" She whispered. The safe held nearly 5000 gold. Stuffing every last coin into her bag she quietly shut the door. The opposite wall contained some interesting stuff. Nirnroot, mushroom, something in a large purple bottle (not skooma she checked), and a dark heart. Quietly she approached it. She had seen one only once before, but here it was. A daedra heart. She gently grabbed it. She stared at the purple heart in her hand, black blood trickling through her fingers. Gently wrapping it in leather, she put that too in her bag.

Leaving the room she saw Jytia and Sor'ma standing by the door. Zha'ri hissed a single word that made Sor'ma groan.

"Upstairs." before anyone could stop her Zha'ri was already halfway up the stairs. The upstairs part of the house was small. With only one room, the bedroom. At the end of the bed there was a chest. Making her way to it Zha'ri saw the person in the bed. It was an elderly lady with white hair. Hopefully she slept soundly so Zha'ri could get this over with. Using three lockpicks Zha'ri opened the chest, grabbing the rich furs inside.

She closed the lid to see the old woman had awoken. For a second they just stared at each other. Then the woman let out a blood curdling scream. Racing down stairs, she Sor'ma and Jytia flew out the door, right into a guard.

Zha'ri shoved him and they ran down the street running into more and more guards. There was now a steady mob behind them. Arrows whizzed past but none made their mark. They ran literally for their lives all the way to the stables only then did they stop but only for a moment.

Zha'ri jumped onto a black horse pulling Jytia on behind her. Sor'ma was already on the horse to her right. They raced all the way to the river. Only then did they stop.

"Zha'ri you know where you're going?" Sor'ma asked still out of breath. Zha'ri nodded.

"I'll see you there." with that Sor'ma turned to the east and started her way to riften.

"Whats going on?" Jytia asked confused.

"Were going to Windhelm. Sor'ma is just making a detour."

"Then i guess we should start moving."

"My thoughts exactly."

 **Sorry it took so long to publish this, i have had a lot of work given to me recently and i couldn't find the time to work on it, until now. Comments are highly appreciate**


	3. Dimitra's Cabin

Zha'ri yawned, stretching. The river splashed and roared next to her. Getting to her feet she walked over to the brow horse tied to a tree near by. It snorted when she approached, laughing Zha'ri pat its head. Zha'ri and Jytia had been making their way to windhelm for two days now, but they still had a long ways to go.

Zha'ri tossed an apple to the horse who grunted in return. Jytia yawned, her hair all messy and knotted.

"Time to go, you turn on the horse." Zha'ri called. Jytia walked sleepily over to the horse. Zha'ri grabbed the leads and started walking down the path, the horse and Jytia in tow.

Several hours had past. Zha'ri tired and hot, lead them to the river for a quick break. She and jytia ate some apples (apples were almost the only food they had left) while they sat on the river bank.

The journey so far had been uneventful, except for one scare on the first day. They had ran into a pack of wolves, and Zha'ri had ran for it. Jytia had found her up a tree, two hours later. Zha'ri later explained that when she was but a cub her mother had told her horrible stories of wolves eating up bad little khajiit children, and it had scarred her.

Zha'ri was resting her feet in the cold water when she heard it, a low guttural growl from the trees behind them. She stood up, pulling Jytia to her feet as well. A gigantic frost troll emerged from the trees, it's white fur stained red around its wide mouth. It opened its mouth to reveal long lethal looking teeth and howled. The horse ran into the river, obviously spooked. It swam to the other side and ran into the trees. Zha'ri was frozen in fear. The beast growled and lunged. Jytia coming to her senses, grabbed Zha'ri and ran. They had only ran a few feet to realize their mistake. Only a few feet in front of them the road ended along with the river, but they had to keep running. They ran to the edge. Zha'ri looked over, the river became a long waterfall, which dropped into a small lake at the bottom.

"Damn." Zha'ri whispered. The troll ran to greet them, swinging its large ape like arms. One collided with Zha'ri's head, and she fell of the small cliff. During her fall, her head smashed into a rock, creating a long gash and knocking her unconscious. Seeing no other choice Jytia jumped after her. The frost troll howled in dismay but made no attempt to go after them.

Zha'ri fell, unconscious into the water, her heavy bag pulling her under. Jytia splashed in after her, swimming towards the khajiit. Jytia dragged Zha'ri to shore, the wound on her head bleeding profusely. Zha'ri moaned and tried to sit up, but she fell back to the ground.

"This one does not like trolls.." she murmured, gingerly touching the wound. Her eyes grew large when she saw the blood on her fingers.

"Oh gods" Jytia whispered. She looked around her, to her right Jytia could see a small house through the trees. Jytia pulled Zha'ri to her feet and the two slowly started walking towards to cottage.

Right before they got through the last trees Zha'ri collapsed. Her eyes were rolling into the back of her head, more and more blood was gushing out of her wound. Jytia mustered what was left of her strength and lifted Zha'ri into her arms, who was surprisingly light. She stumbled to the front of the cottage, and pounded on the door. Sinking to her knees Jytia looked down a Zha'ri. The khajiits normally beautiful white hair was now almost fully dyed red, the blood from the wound had started making a small pool on the ground.

"Don't die." Jytia pleaded softly. The door of the cottage opened with a bang,

"Oh gods! What happened?" a voice demanded. Without waiting for an answer the person grabbed Zha'ri and laid her on the ground. Jytia looked at the figure in surprise. She was tall and thin like a stick, she was an argonian with purple scales, and her eyes were a bright red.

"We ran into a troll and she fell of the edge," Jytia pointed toward the sound of the waterfall. "And she hit her head on the rocks." Zha'ris breathing became more and more ragged with each second that passed by.

The argonian pulled some cloth out of a leather bag at her side. She wrapped it around Zha'ris head, she then placed her hands side by side over the wound. Jytia looked nervously at the woman and saw that her eyes were closed and her mouth was moving but no sound came out.

Jytia glanced back at the woman's hands and saw a warm golden glow emanated from around her hands. Even through the bandage jytia could see that the bleeding had stopped. Even her rough breathing had calmed. Jytia stared at the woman, eyes wide in amazement.

"Thank you so mu-"

"Do not thank" the woman said, getting to her feet. "You need to pay."

"Oh… how much?"

"No no no, not in septims, in work. I have a small farm," she gestured at a space of plowed earth a few feet away. "You and your friend can stay with me until she heals."

Jytia nodded. She bent down and gently picked up Zha'ri, and followed the argonian into the house.

Dimitra quickly showed Jytia to a small ground level bedroom. Jytia walked to the first bed and gently laid down Zha'ri.

"So what is your name?" Jytia asked quietly.

"Dimitra, and yours?"

"Jytia."

"Fine Jytia you can sleep there." she pointed to a small bed next to Zha'ri. "Seeing what you have gone through you might as well sleep now." Dimitra walked out of the room closing the door behind her. Jytia was so tired that as soon as she rested her head on the pillow she fell asleep.

It was around 9 when she awoke. Stretching Jytia opened the door of her small bedroom and walked out. They day before jytia did not look at her surroundings whatso ever so she did not notice the lavish nature of the small house. There were display cases of everything from daggers to scrolls. The walls were full of rich tapestries and beautiful paintings. It was a thief's dream but Jytia had to control herself. The woman after all did save Zha'ri. She wandered around until she found herself in what looked like the kitchen. On the table there was a small plate of food and a note next to it. Without reading the note Jytia scarfed down the meal, not knowing she had been that hungry until she saw the food. Once she was done she picked up the note, reading it allowed.

"Jytia (if that is how you spell it) I will be gone most of today so here is what you need to do. First have your companion drink this potion," Jytia looked over and saw a red potion she quickly identified as a potion of health. Next you will clean the house (dust). Then you will go out to my garden and harvest all that you can, and sort them into different baskets…" Jytia stopped reading. The list went on and on. Jytia sighed but got to work.

Things were going smoothly until she got to number three, harvesting. Jytia rubbed her eyes. It was hot. The sun was directly overhead which made her job even harder. To Jytia there seemed to be a hundred different types of plants growing in that farm. There were Snowberries, Bleeding Crown, Blisterwort, Canis Root, Creep Cluster, Deathbell, Dragon's Tongue, and even Jazbay Grapes. Jytia slaved over those plants, carefully to make no mistake. It took her hours and hours.

"Jytia! I'm back!" Dimitra called. It was around 9 o'clock, and Jytia had finally finished. She aching all over and laying in bed. Dimitra quietly opened the door.

"I did everything on your list."Jytia said sleepily.

"I see that. Goodnight." Dimitra closed the door, smiling.

The next day was much of the same. Organize the books, plant more ingredients (that was what Jytia assumed they were for), and clean the house. Although something strange happened when she was cleaning the house. She was dusting a display case of beautiful jeweled daggers when she tripped on a rug. She quickly go to her feet and went to fix it but something caught her eye. The floor of the house was a smooth kind of grey stone, but under the rug it was wood. She pulled back the rug and revealed a trapdoor. Her curiosity overwhelming her she opened up the hatch and climbed in side.

"Divines!" she gasped. The room was large with dark stone walls, an earthy floor, and heaps and heaps of cloth bags overflowing with gore. In the center of the room there was a large table. It only took a second for Jytia to realize it was made out of human bones. Jytia looked away, trying not to think of how the surface of the table was stained crimson. To her immediate right there was a table with pieces of parchment scattered about it. Staggering over to it she picked up the nearest one. It looked like a letter, the handwriting was small and formal.

 _Dear associate,_

 _I have studied the text more thoroughly and found that you need ten buckets of blood not 7, also that it is easier if you use a woman for the host, as you lost your friend. I only need a few more parts and i will be finished. Remember to keep me informed of your progress, we do not want any mistakes._

 _Calixto_

Jytia dropped the letter her hand trembling. Barely a second later the worst sound possible at that moment called out to Jytia.

"Jytia? Where are you?" Dimitra called. Jytia's eyes widened with fear. She looked around the room, desperately looking for a place she could hide. There was a wardrobe behind the table. She opened it quietly. Inside there were embalming tools of every kind, and plastered to the back was a long scroll, covered in blood. Jytia quickly closed it scrambling around she found a small spot behind the wardrobe. She squeezed herself behind it, it was a tight face was pressed up against the back of the wardrobe. Seconds later she heard the trapdoor open with a squeak. She was so glad that she had tried to fix the rug back over the trap door and hoped to the divines that she would not be found. She heard dimitra climb down the ladder.

"I wonder where that nord ran off to?" dimitra murmured, her voice to close for Jytia's comfort. Without warning the wardrobe opened. Jytia stared at Dimitra, through a small crack in the back. She prayed that she was hidden. Dimitra gathered some tools from a small shelf, and walked back over to the table. She then reached into one of the gore bags and pulled out a hand. It was small and grey, stiff with death.

"Now where's those arms I was working on?" she muttered reaching her arm into a different bag. "Aha!" she pulled out a small arm still attached to a shoulder and placed it on the table. A purple dagger materialized into her hand and she started hacking off the shoulder. Jytia gagged. The smell of blood was overpowering. Soon she stopped and placed the hand next to the eyes rolled into the back of her head and a purple light shot out of her hand and into the body parts below her. Before Jytia's very eyes they connected. If Jytia hadn't been watching with her very own eyes she would have thought they had always been connected.

Dimitra smiled and wiped her arm on her forehead leaving a long bloody smear. She walked over to a large coffin like container and pulled a large thing out and placed it on the table. It took jytia a moment to realize it was a little nord girl. Her wide dead green eyes were staring into Jytia's soul. She shivered.

"Dont worry baby." Dimitra crooned patting the dead girls blonde hair. "Momma's gonna fix you right up. That orphanage woman will never hurt you again." the girl was missing both arms, one leg, and part of her chest.

Jytia watched dimitra work for hours. It was when she had attached the other leg and the arm she was working on did she stop.

"I got to go get you a new arm." Dimitra said with a smile, and she climbed the ladder back up to the house. Only when she heard the front door close did Jytia emerge from her hiding spot. She scurried up the ladder and ran to the room where Zha'ri lay. She barged through the door to find Zha'ri sitting up rubbing her eyes.

"Perfect timing, we need to go. NOW." she grabbed the khajiit by the wrist and dragged her out of the bed. They ran out of the room. And jytia ran for the door but Zha'ri stopped.

"Stop." she said in a quiet voice.

"No you don't understand we are in serious danger here."

"The woman who helped us turned out to be a murderer and is making a little girl?" Jytia stopped and stared at her.

"How did you-"

"I don't know, but she won't be back for a few minutes. I just need to grab one thing." without another word, Zha'ri whirled around and walked to the closest display case. She smashed it open with her fist and grabbed the dagger within.

"What are you doing?" tears were in her eyes now "We need to go!." Zha'ri ran past her and opened the front door.

"Then let's go." they ran out into the cold night ran and ran and ran, not once looking back.


End file.
